


Creativitwins - Talking in the Garden

by gottawriteanegoortwo



Series: Sanders Sides (No Ships) [6]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Asexual Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Gen, Two distant bros having a heart to heart chat, no shipping though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25845802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gottawriteanegoortwo/pseuds/gottawriteanegoortwo
Summary: Following on from‘Helplessly in Love’, Roman and Remus have a serious conversation about Remus’ motives and the topic of love as a whole.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: Sanders Sides (No Ships) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870696
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	Creativitwins - Talking in the Garden

**Author's Note:**

> If you ship the twins I'll throw a frisbee at you. Don't try me.

Roman paced back and forth across the walled garden. This quiet place was considered the most obvious ‘neutral zone’ in the realm of the Imagination both siblings resided over. It was neither overly inspired by fairy tales, nor overrun by monsters and decay, making it the perfect harmony between both halves of Creativity. Playing the role of a Secret Garden, it granted the other Sides an entry into the Imagination without the fear of getting too lost on either side. To the left, there were elegant red rose bushes, trees with ripe and delicious fruit, and wooden frames helping clematis plants climb high overhead and guide you to the elegantly carved maple door. On the right, the grass turned darker. The path was lined with weeds and venus flytraps that would gladly snap at ankles that stepped too close. The trees were barren, yet birds would regularly perch on the branches. Poison ivy climbed the wall surrounding the walnut door with identical carvings to the opposite door. In the middle, a large pond housed a variety of colourful koi and piranha that cohabit the waters peacefully. In the open court between the two doors were two stone stools. When the twins would squabble in their younger days, they would eventually meet here and claim a seat to talk through the problem. It was something that rang true to this day.

* * *

After recent events had calmed down, Patton had taken the time during one of their tea parties to fill Roman in on events leading up to the group appearing in his room with _Remus_ of all Sides. Not only that, Remus applied a ‘what would Roman do’ approach. No tricks, no attempts to make Thomas feel worse about matters… It was all rather strange.

“I’m going to have to call him eventually,” Roman muttered, tightly folding his arms as he lapped the pond for the third time. “Talking to myself about it isn’t going to give me answers, and I know I can’t leave this be… Ugh!” He forced himself to stop walking with a firm stomp of his foot. “Remus! Get to the garden now!”

The dark door draped in ivy was pushed open to reveal a rather confused Duke. It slammed shut behind him once he was in the garden, leaving the pair in silence for several long seconds.

“While I am one to gladly talk through problems, I don’t know what I did this time.” One of Remus’ traits was honesty, after all, and he had been trying to keep out of the way of the other Sides in recent times.

“No, I know. Nothing’s wrong. I just… I need to talk, okay? This is neutral territory so it’s not gonna make either of us feel out of place, or something.” Roman slumped onto one of the stone stools, hands interlocked to hide potential fidgeting. “I’ve been thinking about what you did recently - when you brought everyone to my room like that. Patton told me what happened… Why did you do it?”

“I told you already. Thomas needed the ‘love expert’, and he trusts you a heck of a lot more than he does me. No one else could get to your room too easily without you, so I was the only option left.”

“But you didn’t try anything. You didn’t hurt Thomas, or ruin the excitement. That would’ve been the perfect chance without me blocking you.” It seemed Thomas had kept his word and didn’t tell Roman about Remus’ good intentions. However, it came at the price of the topic pestering Roman once the excitement of love had faded enough to focus on other matters. “The first time you met Thomas, you wanted to hurt him. Why not now?”

“It’s really not as deep as you’re trying to make it out to be. Thomas needed you, I could help! It was for the greater good for Thomas, really.”

“You could have taken my place! It’s what you always say you’d do. _‘I’m Creativity too. I should be listened to as well’!”_ Roman’s impression of Remus was emphasised by a wave of his right hand, just like how his brother would do it. “You know about love, just like me. You could have given him advice and taken all the credit -”

“No I don’t.”

“- and showed… _What?”_ Remus’ blunt interruption had Roman’s rambling screech to a halt. He gawked up at his brother with a wide-eyed, puzzled expression. In the pause that followed, Remus made his way to the other stone stool and sat on it. Compared to his brother, Remus was slouched forward with his arms resting on both knees.

“I don’t know about love. I never have.” Why beat around the bush with this? “Sure, I know what it means and what happens when people fall in love, but I can’t talk about it as you could. I don’t have the same desire to fall in love with someone, so why should I be the one trying to tell Thomas how to declare his feelings?”

“You… Don’t know about love?” Roman felt like he had been slapped in the face. Guilt bubbled in his stomach. All this time, did Remus lack any sort of positive relationship with anyone? 

“I did have friends once, you know. I have ‘loved’ platonically,” Remus scoffed. “But this whole ‘one true love’ or ‘wanting a boyfriend’ stuff you’re always on about… _That_ isn’t what I’ve felt about anyone. I never brought it up when we were younger because I thought it wasn’t necessary, or that maybe I’d be proven when I found the guy of _my_ dreams.” He let out a sigh with a quirked eyebrow when he noticed his brother’s reaction to this. “Oh, don’t act like I told you a shark chewed off my leg. It’s not _that_ big of a deal. I could give advice, but it would be an outsider looking in. Since Thomas needed personal experience and better insight, he needed _you_ . We always did say you were the one who could inspire others. I’d never be able to do that for love. But you could, and you _did!”_ Roman has always been the hero. That’s why he was the favoured twin.

“... I’m sorry I never considered your feelings.” Roman’s voice was low as the pity stayed on his face. “All those times I tried to set you up with denizens in the Imagination when we were younger as part of our stories, all those times you’d side-step or find an excuse to worm out of it… I must have made you feel so uncomfortable.”

“Ah, ah, ah. Don’t start that. I’m not angry. This isn’t something to guilt you over. You didn’t know, and I didn’t understand. I only learned that being Aromantic was a ‘thing’ when Thomas was learning about all the LBGT strands and worrying about them all in case he offended someone.” At last, Remus’ confidence in the matter seemed to falter a little as he added, “It was a relief knowing I wasn’t completely ‘broken’.”

“You aren’t ‘broken’.” Roman blurted, hoping to stop whatever dark thoughts were bubbling in Remus’ mind. “You’re you. And while I might not like who you are, that… Doesn’t make you the worst.” The last part was admitted as a reluctant grumble. “Me wanting to fall in love doesn’t mean you’re wrong not feeling anything about it. Just like me not wanting any involvement in your sexual opinions on guys I thought were cute doesn’t mean I’m wrong either.” Now it was Remus’ turn to look surprised once the penny dropped.

“You’re Ace?”

“I guess we both had something to learn today, huh? Not that this was why I called you here.” Maybe it was the magic of the garden, where the feud was left outside the walls and the brothers could simply _talk_. It allowed Roman to swallow some of his pride on the original matter. “Thank you. For, you know, not using it as a chance to take my place.”

“What can I say? I make a terrible Roman impersonator. Just like when the day comes that Thomas needs my help, you’d make a terrible Remus!” The darker Creativity twin grinned in anticipation. Roman was quick to take the bait with a cocky laugh.

“Oh _please_ . We both know Thomas isn’t gonna resort to using _your_ ideas.”

“This Hallowe’en might be the year. There’s gonna be a full moon this year too. He’d be a fool not to do something _terrifying!”_ Hey, maybe Remus could try and get back in contact with Virgil to get him on the Duke’s side!

“Not a chance! I’ll get him to work on an epic, fantastical tribute to ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’! There’s a simply wonderful suit of an alternate costume that Thomas would look marvellous in!” Fuelled with passion, Roman sprung to his feet with a triumphant laugh.

“And he could try to persuade the cutie to dress as a Sally-inspired character?”

“Why would I… Wait, that’s - that’s not a bad idea.”

“Especially if he gets to wear something short and scandalous~”

“Aaand there goes that little bubble of respect. Good going.” Roman waved a dismissive hand as Remus cackled. “Look, I’m sorry that I was surprised you didn’t wanna hurt Thomas, but don’t ruin this for him, okay?”

“I had no intention to do so. Thomas deserves to be happy, right? There’s plenty of other chances to jump in and have fun! Can’t be too predictable, dear brother, especially when you have the upper hand on the topic!” Now Remus pulled himself onto his feet and turned on the ball of his foot to face his door. “Until next time -”

“Wait!” Roman needed to have the last word. He couldn’t leave like this. “You… You did a good job. Thank you for helping Thomas when I couldn’t.” A gust of wind picked up, briefly obscuring Remus’ vision with rose petals. When the breeze died down, the Prince was gone. Once he realised he was alone in the walled garden, Remus walked to the door to his part of the Imagination, only to pause.

A black rose had blossomed on his side of the garden, thriving despite the weeds that should have suffocated it. He had considered plucking it and taking it with him as a memento… But why kill it? Instead, he knelt down to gently brush his thumb against a thorn.

The black rose amongst weeds was like him with the other Sides - the oddity that shouldn’t exist. Yet they both do in spite of exceptions. In time, maybe both would prosper in their own way.


End file.
